Microsoft Lumia 950 XL, 950 and 550 hands-on: First look

Today Microsoft held a press conference in New York and it introduced three new Lumia smartphones as part of its newly charted strategy. The Lumia 950 XL is the long awaited flagship entry, the Lumia 950 targets the business class and the Lumia 550 seems line an excellent value for money.

Last July Microsoft announced a major restructuring, which started by writing off the Nokia acquisition and laying off 7,800 employees. Then the Windows, Phone, Tablet, Xbox, HoloLens and Band divisions were all united under a single Microsoft Devices with Terry Myerson serving as the unit’s chief.

Finally, Microsoft decided to focus on three different niches on the phone market – flagship, business and value, and those would get just one or two phones each year. By lowering the phone sales and putting the focus to specific niches, Microsoft is hoping of cutting the losses and eventually start making money from those. This is a complete shift from the previous plans that were basically ‘sell as many as you can’.

So, today we got one phone for each category and they sure look promising. Those three Lumia smartphones – 950 XL, 950 and 550 are also the first to run natively on Windows 10 for Phones.